Key Points and Summary on China’s Military Rise – China’s military modernization, a long-term project aimed at achieving global dominance by 2049, is proceeding at a rapid pace, a process that was significantly advanced by Russian assistance.
-A massive 2021 joint military exercise with Russia saw China field a host of new weapons, including J-20 stealth fighters and J-16 bombers.
-This push for advanced hardware is matched by ambitious infrastructure projects, highlighted by the recent revelation that Beijing is constructing a vast, 1,000-acre underground military command center designed to withstand even America’s most powerful “bunker buster” bombs, signaling a profound shift in the global strategic balance.
China’s Military Summed Up in 1 Word: Superpower?
In 2021, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Russian military conducted one of their largest joint military exercises military exercises ever.
This massive training event took place in the northwest desert region of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
This joint operation put the PLA’s latest combat tactics to the test, along with a long list of its newest weapons, which were being used in the field in conjunction with the Russians for the first time.
Some 10,000 troops were deployed to this Ningxia Hui autonomous region for what was a five-day exercise.
During this period, the PRC units involved were to engage in new and innovative combat maneuvers.
The PLA tested concepts like emergency air drops of troops and heavy weapon, long range strikes by the Shenyang J-16 fighter bomber (the PLAAF’s reverse-engineered copy of the Sukhoi Su-30MK series) and – in a prelude to what has now become modern-day warfare – a large number of newly-designed drones.
Liu Xiaowiu, the deputy commander of the PLA’s Western Theatre Command, said at the time that 81 percent of weapons participating in the exercise were “brand new”.
This in itself was a giant first step outside of its comfort zone for the force.
The Chinese risk-averse mindset in the past would have never been willing to risk “untested weaponry” in such a public display without first knowing how those weapons would perform in practice
New Weapons and an Emphasis on Airpower
“That includes the Chengdu J-20 [stealth fighter jet], the CETC KJ-500 [airborne early-warning and control aircraft] and the J-16, while surveillance and combat drones and new armoured vehicles will also [be involved],” said Liu.
Liu also explained that the war games would include an unprecedented 200 aircraft sorties, engaging more than 200 armored vehicles and 100 artillery launch systems.
Observers of the PLA noted to the National Security Journal that this exercise marked a watershed moment in Beijing’s drive to produce a new, modern PLA.
The objective of this “next-generation military,” they say, is to accomplish three goals.
One is to make the PLA into a new, modern digital force. This means shifting reliance away from mass and towards more flexible and innovative operational concepts.
Secondly – and this is even more visible in the present day – is to move a new generation of younger PLA officers into the upper ranks that will clear out some of the “old thinking” that has kept the force from modernizing in a manner consistent with Chinese military thinking and academic writings and usher a new cast of leaders.
Building a Futuristic Subterranean Marvel
Thirdly, there is a drive to re-mold the PLA into a new structure that is capable of modern-day maneuver warfare.
This PLA would be built around a combined-arms brigade (CAB) that would be the “primary ground unit of action of China’s self-described ‘World Class Military’ designed to outmatch the U.S. military by 2049.”
There are no small amount of resources being thrown at this effort.
China Is Going Underground
At the end of June, it was revealed that the PRC is building an expansive 1,000-acre underground military command center near Beijing. One might say that the size of this massive complex is no less grandiose than their constantly stated ambitions and intentions to realign the global power balance and to displace the US as having the world’s number one military.
It also demonstrates that the PLA is “playing the long game,” as several PLA watchers commented for this article and “is spending untold billions in doing so.”
Beijing has been at this effort “for a long time, and they will not slow down until they believe their overall strategic goal of global domination has been achieved.”
The fact is, the PLA has had special groups and design teams working on the creation and building of underground shelters since the 1980s. Their objective is to create a command center that could withstand the most destructive US weaponry that could be deployed against targets underground.
This would include the now-famous GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) that was made famous in the recent Operation Midnight Hammer attack by the US on Iran’s underground nuclear weapons development facilities.
Constructing what might be the largest underground military command post in human history is more than just the PRC attempting to gain the “bragging rights” to have built such an engineering marvel.
Beijing’s creation of this bunker complex is not just about the CCP demonstrating its military might, reads a recent article on the project. “It represents a shift in the balance of power in Asia and beyond. The strategic significance of this project cannot be overstated, as it may alter the dynamics of military alliances and defense strategies worldwide,” the author concludes.
About the Author
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs and Director of the Asian Research Centre with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
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Jim
July 5, 2025 at 9:55 am
Taiwan
That’s the one word which sums up China’s military buildup.
But ‘Superpower’ or peer-adversary is another which fits.
Why ‘Taiwan’? Because President Xi of China states in his formal speeches to the Chinese People the reason for this massive military buildup is to unify Taiwan with China, peacefully if possible, but by military force if necessary.
Taiwan is the public reason Xi tells his people, while there are other less public reasons for the buildup which go well beyond taking Taiwan.
The United States (it may be already too late) can’t afford to buildup China’s military by our trade policies… somehow, someway we have to reverse that situation for our own strategic security.
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